Join the Anoka County Historical Society Board, committees

Every year about this time, the dreams of the Anoka County Historical Society Board of Directors turn to the closing of one year and the opening of another. An indication of this is planning for the annual meeting in March when new members of the board are installed. 

Serving on a nonprofit board of directors carries with it the heady responsibility of setting the strategic course for the organization, maintaining financial stewardship and committing volunteer time to ensure goals are met. That weight also comes with the ability to think big, imagine an interesting future for ACHS and put those innovations into place for future patrons.

Recently, the directors rewrote the mission and values statement to reflect a focus on documenting history as it occurs AND preserving the past that already happened. Together, those statements read, “Our mission is to gather, preserve and share the stories of all the people and communities that are part of Anoka County. The Anoka County Historical Society is an inclusive organization. We are accountable to the community for presenting and celebrating the stories of Anoka County, as well as those which still need to be told. We invite people to join us on a journey to ignite curiosity about our past and understanding of our present.”

The board decided that part of that invitation was expanding who could participate in the committees by removing the assumption it was for board members only. Now, as we not only search for new board members, we can also put out a call for volunteers interested in serving on one of four governance committees:

Engage: The Engage Committee is charged with ensuring diversity across all spectrums, including race, gender, ethnicity, geography and age in programming while raising awareness of ACHS in the community. It promotes the organization and acts as our advocacy champion. It works with staff to create programming and other outreach tools.

Define Identity: The DI Committee is charged with creating brand value and developing new board members and new financial supporters. This group has worked closely with the Facing Change program, a national diversity and inclusion initiative ACHS was selected to participate in two years ago.

Gather: The Gather Committee works closely with staff to determine what and how artifacts are preserved at ACHS. Part of their job is identifying oral histories to collect, identifying “urgent collections” that may be in danger of disappearing, and discovering the voids in the current collection.

Management: The Management Committee handles the budget, makes investment decisions and oversees the audit process. It conducts annual reviews of the executive director and maintains the facility structure and stability. Members of this committee also handle human resource questions, benefits and internal concerns of the staff.

These committees came into being three years ago at our strategic planning meeting. Since then, they have worked together to move ACHS forward by expanding core programming. These committees came into being three years ago at our strategic planning meeting. Since then, they have worked together to reach stated goals by building relationships in new communities, making “digital” the key word in the hub of our operations, and thinking critically about the contents of the ACHS archive. This weekend, the board of directors will gather for a retreat to celebrate the accomplishments since 2018, renew its focus, redefine responsibilities and consider another strategic planning meeting in the spring.

With this new set point in place, we heartily invite you to push your table up next to ours and bring all you are to the world of local history. Please contact rebecca@anokacountyhistory.org for more information about serving on a committee (rolling deadline) or placing your name on the ballot for the Board of Directors (deadline March 19).